Aldross Science Station
by synomous01
Summary: Dutch and the team find a lead on Khlyen based on an old data transmission to Aldross, a science station situated at the fringe of the Quad. The message showed that Khlyen had been on the station in search of a device. Dutch is determined to find out what it is and if it is in fact still there.. Boarding the station, however was one thing. Leaving it was another...
1. Chapter 1

**Summary:** Dutch and the team find a lead on Khlyen based on an old data transmission to Aldross, a science station situated in an isolated region within the Quad. The decrypted transmission show that Khlyen had been on the station in search of a device. Dutch is determined to find out what it is and if it is in fact still present on the station. Using Turin to write a warrant as an official reason to board the science station, it seemed like an easy in and out level 1 mission. Little did they know, leaving the station was a lot harder than any of them predicted.

 **Note(s)** : Takes place some time before the episode "Schooled", Season 2. Please note some course language is used in the story!

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Killjoys or any of its characters.

 **Aldross Science Station**

 **\- Control Room -**

"Johnny?"

"Johnny!"

"D'Av?"

"Johnny! Get us out of here. The cargo bay, they've locked all the exits, Johnny! Do you copy?" Sounds of shots fired cracked through the COM link. "Johnny!" It was D'Avin. There was a cry in the background, "Dutch!" Alvis's voice was worried. "Dutch, stay awake." There was more sounds of gunfire. "We need to get her back onboard Lucy, now." That did not sound good to Johnny. The doors. He needed to get them open.

Things would of course move a lot faster for Johnny if his mind wasn't so hazy from the blood loss. The wound that he had taken from Lyaff was probably the same lines as the one D'Avin had given him a few months ago from Dr. Jaegar's mind control. While he wasn't sure exactly how bad the wound was, he did know he didn't have long before he would go into shock and be pretty useless in getting his team off the station. And he'd bet that's what the bastard Lyaff would have wanted when he stabbed him in the abdomen.

But as luck would have it, Johnny was one hard mother f*cker to kill. Though he wasn't dead yet, Johnny had a feeling if he didn't stop the bleeding soon, he would be. But he didn't have time for that. He had his priorities: getting his team the hells out of the Aldross science station. He could finish dying afterwards. Though ideally he wanted to live, for obvious reasons.

The com link suddenly went offline again.

Damn it. Johnny's hands had started to tremble already. He steadied them and focused on reestablishing the link to Lucy. Johnny knew he didn't have enough time to manually hack the Aldross A.I. But he could get Lucy to do it. Lucy would take care of them all. Unblocking the signal that was interfering with Lucy and keeping the com signal with his team was much more difficult than expected. The Aldross A.I. was much more sophisticated than Johnny ever imagined. But somehow, Johnny managed it. Loopholes, algorithms, all sorts of methods and subroutines just poured from his fingertips. Must work really well under pressure, he thought to himself.

Finally, Johnny was able to make some headway for Lucy to link to the facility's A.I. Linking it was one thing, but to keep the connection to the network, that was a different thing. The A.I. constantly tried to unravel his code, but Johnny wasn't giving it the opportunity. No way was he going to let this A.I. catch his girl Lucy.

"Lucy?"

He waited for a moment. There was static. Johnny wiped the code sweat from his forehead, and tried again to reroute some of the programming.

"Lucy?" He tried again. _Come on, come on._ He was running out of time. His team was counting on him.

"John."

"Yes!" He let the breath he didn't realize he had been holding.

"Lucy, this A.I. is a tough little assh*le, so I'm going to have to keep him busy while you do your best to hack into the main system of this little bastard's playground. Can you do that?"

"Attempting mainframe hack, John," confirmed Lucy.

"Good. Thanks Luce." His breathing had started to become more laboured. While he still had adrenaline rushing through him in keeping him conscious, his body was weakening by the minute. He began to lean against the control console. He was tired. So tired. He wanted to shut his eyes. Just for a moment. A second even.

"John. John, you must stay awake. Your vital signs are not bolding well."

Gods. Did he phase out? Johnny blinked his tired eyes and let out a weak cough. He tasted copper. Blood. Not good. Definitely _not good_.

"John?"

"Still here, Luce. Any updates with the com?" His voice sounded hoarse even to him.

"Com link has been established, but there is severe interference with the signal."

"Their vitals?"

"Undetermined. Interference from the mainframe A.I. on this facility is blocking attempts to detect their lifesigns."

"But you can find mine?"

"There is less shielding in this part of the station."

"Are you in their system now?"

"I am close."

"Good." Johnny smirked. "Bastards should never mess with you Luce."

"They should never mess with _us_ , John."

Johnny smiled at her response.

"Alright. I don't plan on dying here, so let's hurry and get the hells out of here asap."

Johnny's hands moved as quickly, his eyes focused on monitoring the Aldross Lab A.I., making sure it didn't see Lucy slip in through its mainframe.

"John, I am now connected to the Aldross A.I. It is difficult to maintain without assistance. Aldross is very resistant."

"Too much for my Luce to handle alone? Don't worry, I'll help with a distraction. Just keep yourself under the radar until you can fully take over its main systems, at least the doors if anything."

"Understood, John."

There was silence for what seemed like a hours, but only minutes had passed. But for every second that passed, Johnny could feel himself growing weaker. He knew his body was starting to go into shock.

He was definitely running out of time. His movements were getting slower, his vision phasing in and out.

"Luce, have you connected to their main systems?"

There was a pause, and then, "Affirmative, John. I am in. However, I have limited access."

"Can you detect the team's vitals?"

"They are active. Dutch, however, appears to be hurt."

"Can you access the system doors?"

"I am accessing."

Pause.

"D'Av?" Tried Johnny over the com. It should work. With the shields down, the interference should be gone.

"Johnny?" Was the static response. Thank God.

"You guys alright?"

Static silence.

"Casualties. The doors. Still trapped."

Suddenly there was a loud blaring alarm. _Shit_. The Aldross had realized it had been compromised. Johnny scrambled on rerouting what he could to keep the A.I. from locking Lucy out.

 _Come on, come on...there!_ "Ok, Lucy, try again. Let's get those doors open for them."

After what seemed like an eternity of rerouting the station's A.I. he locked the commands in.

Moments later, Lucy confirmed it.

"Doors are open now John."

"Ok, map them a way out and keep those bastards getting to them."

"D'Av, Lucy's connected to the A.I. mainframe right now. I'm not sure how long she can stay in there, so you guys gotta move fast."

Static silence.

"D'Av?"

D'Avin wasn't answering. The com must have gone down again. But Johnny was wrong when he heard Lucy speak to D'Avin over the com.

"The doors have been unlocked. You do not have much time, you need to get to the secondary corridor on the right wing B in 5 minutes." Johnny could hear Lucy speak to D'Avin through the static.

"Got it, thanks Lucy"

It was a one way communication; the interference was too strong within the control room.

"D'Av?" he tested.

Yep. One way. Well, at least Lucy could communicate with them.

"Lucy."

Silence again.

Damn it. He needed to keep Lucy in the Aldross system, if she was booted out, the teams escape would be impossible.

Johnny decided the best way to keep the com with Lucy was to just route it through the Aldross system. The A.I. kept trying to raise the shield in the control room, and that kept cutting Lucy off through the com. But if it was through the Aldross A.I.'s own communication systems, then it would be less likely to be closed off. But discovery might be transparent. Oh well. You win some, you lose some.

Come on... come on, there!

"Lucy?"

"I am here John."

"Thank god. Can you still connect with the team?"

"I am in contact with D'Avin right now."

"Com is down for me so I can't talk to them. What's their status right now?"

"They are in a difficult position - there are too many Aldross men in position. They require a distraction."

"Is there anything you can do, Lucy?"

"I cannot access anything beyond some of their system doors."

Okay, think Johnny. Think. There has to be something you can do. Got it.

He began to enter in the commands. "Luce, on my mark, you give them the warning to hang on to something."

Okay. Done. Now he just had to wait till it powered up. Next thing to do: get the hells out of the control room.

"Luce, tell me the fastest way I can make it out of here alive."

"The closest route would be to exit through the South wing, make a left at corridor A and -"

Suddenly Lucy's voice was cut off. No no no. Johnny looked at the console. The Aldross A.I. had blocked out Lucy from its communication systems. Worse was that it had also raised the alarm to where the breach had occurred; right where Johnny was.

Moments later, Johnny saw he had company outside the control room. Lyaff and Lorey. And boy, did they not look happy to see Johnny alive and kicking. Lyaff pounded against the control room's door, while Lorey worked furiously on unlocking the door.

Johnny was thankful that he had locked himself in as the first command when he got Lucy in the system. He really didn't have plans to die today, though he wasn't sure if what he wanted was going to pan out so well anymore.

The banging against the door increased. Oh yeah, Lyaff was pissed. But did Johnny care, really? No. Not the slightest. The petite scientist Lorey looked focused and pretty damned frustrated. The tall security guard was no different.

"Get the damn door open, Lorey!" growled the man.

"I'm trying! I'm trying damnit. He's locked out the controls."

"Just get it open. I don't care how you do it."

Frustrated by the lack of results, Lyaff pulled out his blaster and prepared to fire at the door.

Lorey, however, wasn't impressed nor was she taking his frustration to heart. "Put that away, idiot. Do you think that still works after you've been walking and out of this room?"

"It's you're fault he's alive to do this. I told you to just finish him off earlier. Stupid." muttered Lorey.

The man looked abashed at the woman's words. He reholstered his blaster pausing a moment before he continued slamming his fists against the panel doors.

The scientist said nothing except let out a sigh as she continued to enter codes into the key panel.

Johnny, while he could easily find their odd relationship entertaining on a regular day, he really didn't care too much about it at the moment. They were trying to kill him and his team afterall. Instead, Johnny was using all of his concentration on two things, connecting to Lucy again and also making sure his algorithm worked Aldross's system. His team needed a distraction, so he was going to give them one. The panel in front of him blinked 100%. Time to wreck some havoc on this science vessel.

"Lucy?"

"John?"

"Tell the team to brace themselves. We're going in for a ride."

Johnny gripped the console as he activated the algorithm he had programmed. The entire station shifted out of orbit. Ship wide alarms went off. The Aldross, forced to deal with a station wide panic was distracted, giving Johnny his chance slip Lucy into their higher operations. Now Lucy could navigate them out of there properly.

And now for himself... ah shit.

The door to the control room suddenly slid open. Lyaff walked in, Lorey following slowly behind.

"Release the controls back to Aldross," he growled at Johnny.

"Um..no?" Honestly, Johnny didn't know where his sarcasm was coming from. Especially given his circumstances. Must be the lightheadedness from the blood loss. Or it could just an inherent part of his personality. D'Avin always said that was his problem when it came to bullies. While most cowered away, Johnny went straight into the sarcastic territory, causing well...more agitation and broken bones in the process.

"You do not want to test me, Mr. Jacobis."

"Wow. We're on to last names now? I didn't know you cared enough to look me up."

 _Ah shit, Johnny. You really need to stop_ , seeing that Lyaff's side temple vein was visibly throbbing.

"Lorey, unlock the controls. I will deal Mr. Jacobis."

The woman didn't bother to answer, she was already on it.

Good luck to her. Johnny put enough subroutines to keep her from isolating out Lucy.

Things, however, were not looking good for Johnny. He wasn't going to be able to get out of here alive today afterall. But he wasn't going to take his team with him either. They needed to go.

"Luce, my last request: run protocol Jacobis 2 7 R. You do what it takes to get them to go, okay? Can you give me a sign you heard me?"

The station did an abrupt shift. _That's my girl,_ smiled Johnny.

Lyaff, however, was anything but happy. He had stumbled from the shift and he was rather pissed. With one hand, he knocked Johnny away from the controls; Johnny having no way to really strength to do anything, fell backwards against the side of the wall like a ragdoll.

If a body could bounce from a wall, Johnny felt like he did. Or maybe he didn't. He couldn't tell. He was just in a lot of pain. Cracked ribs? Bones? Multiple fractures? It didn't really matter.

Johnny saw red for a moment, his pain sensors overwhelming him. He tried push himself up to stand and fight, but found that he couldn't. Instead, all he could do at the moment was be at the mercy of Lyaff. The man crouched down to his level, his cold eyes meeting Johnny's.

No. This was not good.

The man reached to his side boot and drew out a weapon that Johnny found disturbingly familiar. It was the same dagger that had been used on him earlier. Even still had some of his yet to dry blood on its hilt.

"Recognize this?"

"Me and your dagger there are becoming best buds. You sure you want that? I think you guys should really reconnect."

 _Oh sarcasm, Johnny. Best weapon ever. But not working in your favour right now. Good time to stop..._

The man's face turned into a snarl from his remark.

Yep. Not helping.

He pointed the tip of the blade at Johnny's prone body, teasingly: Heart, Throat, Abdomen.

"Eeny, meeny, miny ..."

Bastard was having fun. Johnny really didn't want to give him the satisfaction of that. He wanted to fight him. Give him a hard time. Do anything really. But in reality, Johnny was out of energy. The adrenaline that had been rushing through him earlier had drained.

He couldn't fight this bastard even if he wanted to. One consolation was knowing his team was safe. His friends. His family. Dutch. D'Avin. Alvis. Lucy. They were all safe.

"Moe."

Johnny felt the blade sink into his abdomen. The twist. The pain that came with it. But Lyaff didn't end it with a single stab. Instead, the man removed the blade only to sink it back into Johnny again. He did this over and over again, until Johnny saw nothing but darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

**Aldross Science Station**

 **D'Avin**

Ah shit. Things were not looking good. Dutch had been hit and was unresponsive. Alvis had made a makeshift bandage for Dutch's stomach wound, all the while making one for himself too, for some side cut after engaging hand to hand combat with one of the Aldross men. D'Avin wasn't sure how bad it was, but it must have only been a flesh wound since the man was still moving, albeit a bit slower than usual. D'Avin himself, aside from some cuts and a graze on his arm, he was for the most part, unscathed.

The upside to everything was that they were at least out of the cargo bay. This had changed only in the last few minutes. Before that, things had been much more grim.

They had been led by the facility supervisor to where the supposed communication devices were, the cargo bay 18. Instead of seeing a bunch of old junk, they encountered an ambush. Whatever the Aldross men thought they were able to handle easily, turned out to more than they bargained for.

D'Avin had seen Dutch fight, but she had never seen her in full assassin mode. He had known that she had a dark past and was a good fighter, but this was something else. D'Avin knew then that had Dutch really wanted to kill him that day Dr. Jaegar triggered whatever that was in his head, she could have. But she had been holding back.

The scarback was useful as well, having tossed some interesting pearly things on the ground and in turn killing more than a few hot headed Aldross men that rushed in. Monk pants still had some surprise in him. D'Avin wondered what else was being taught at a scarback's monastery. Was it all preachy shit or was it all some guise and they were rebels colluding towards a greater war towards the Nine and the Company?

All seemed hopeless, however, until after what seemed like ages of calling for Johnny to answer over the comm, they finally reached him.

D'Avin had in a rush told him of the situation. It was also at that same moment, he'd seen Dutch go down. Things were just breaking even at every stride forward.

Then suddenly, the comm then went down again, only to have it go back up again moments later. And then there was light at the end of the tunnel it seemed.

Johnny had sent Lucy in for the rescue.

And like magic, the doors opened, and now it was just them running the hells out of there. Rushing through the corridors, with Lucy's calm voice at the com, D'Avin's mind raced through the days the events.

What in hells was going on. Why were the Aldross men trying to kill them? They were here on a legit warrant given to them by Turin. There was no reason for the Aldross crew to go craze shooting at them, because seriously, were they that much in love with their old communication devices they were willing to attempt murder on RAC agents? How did things turn from something so boring and simple to something so complex?

 **1 Hour Ago**

 **D'Avin**

It had taken Lucy a few days to arrive in orbit to the science station 'Aldross' because of it's fringe location within the Quad. As for why they were going there, it was because of Turin's lead. He had found an old data transmission, not the one from Arkyn, an even older one that showed that there was something onboard that science station that Khlyen had interest in. Aside from that intel, there wasn't much except that it was a communication device of some sort, so that was what the warrant was for. A bunch of old junk. Key was that the item they needed to get would have a very strong energy reading. They would just need to bring back a few along with the said device so they could keep the the actual device while handing actual junk for the warrant. Easiest way to cover ones tracks, do the job, but not do it. Seemed like a pretty straight forward gig. Kind of boring in fact. But D'Avin could use boring too.

Boring jobs was one thing, but listening to technobabble that really went over his head, D'Avin could do without. Most days, D'Avin didn't mind listening to Johnny talk about tech things, but today, for some reason, he felt more tired and irritated. His damned head hurt for some reason. Maybe he had too much hokk the other night. Though usually, D'Avin found himself to be quite tolerant of it. Johnny had been going on about the Aldross station, explaining its somewhat sad history, a funder based science station that changed hands quite a few times in the past 30 years. It used to be a top facility, but recent investors had stopped contributing to the station and hence activity and transmission logs to and fro with the Aldross had been less and less. The research they had been doing was in fact really interesting. An advanced A.I. system ... and that had been the point where D'Avin sort of phased out. He just knew that Johnny ended the conversation with the phrase, "Crap, gotta go feed mossipede".

Mossipede. Ew. What Johnny fed the creepy little critter, D'Avin didn't know. But it did like what Johnny was giving it. Such a gross little thing but fascinating at the same time. It was so conflicting. Wanting to both squish it yet drawn to its suckling nature. Evil little thing, thought D'Avin as he peered at it with his brows furrowed.

It had taken a while to get to the science station so there was a lot of idle time on the ship.

Things were good now with the team dynamic. D'Avin had initially been worried after returning from his brief stint on Arkyn that the working relationship with Dutch could never be repaired, but it seemed to be water under the bridge. In fact, they were sparring with each other now, though D'Avin held back more often than not. Dutch wasn't taking any of it, so D'Avin had to work on not letting himself freak out on himself. Dr. Jaegar had done a number on him. D'Avin guessed it was a good thing that Dutch handled Jaegar, because if it had been D'Avin himself, he wasn't sure if wiping the woman's memory would have been his choice of punishment. The woman had made him murder his own unit in cold blood. _I'm a good soldier_. That phrase still rattled him in his sleep sometimes.

One big change, was that monk pants...Alvis, was on board. While he didn't hate the man, he didn't like him either. Maybe it was because of the odd relationship he noticed that Alvis had with Dutch. They seemed close and Dutch chose him as a confident. Sure, D'Avin had only gotten to know Dutch for less than a year, but he couldn't help but want that same sense of confidence that she showed to the scarback. She showed vulnerability towards him, something she didn't often display. What history did those two have together? How long was he going to be hanging out with them on Lucy? D'Avin wanted to ask one time, but he stopped himself.

Monk pants was going to leave eventually, he didn't need to push things along. Not rocking the boat was good.

As long as Dutch was fine with Alvis, D'Avin wasn't having any complaints. Yet. But if the man tried to convert his brother into being an Uncle, he was going to have a word with him. A very unpleasant one. He had joked with Johnny on it that one time he had seen his brother save their hides by performing a blessing, but in truth it had disturbed him.

Johnny had been through a lot while D'Avin had been away in the Nova Corp. Their mom had died while he had been away. His dad... he wasn't the best guy to deal with. Thinking about it made D'Avin feel guilty. He had thought Johnny would have left Telen with the money he had sent home. But it must have been used to pay off their dad's debts. D'Avin wanted to ask a few times about what had happened, but he hadn't yet. He would ask about it, maybe after this warrant was done. It was a topic that he found himself avoiding to broach.

Once they had docked on the Aldross science station, everything that D'Avin had remembered from Johnny's conversation with him about the place was pretty much debunked. Well... rumor has it certainly took a turn. The bloody science station was pretty amazing, clean, brightly lit, and damned advanced. Nothing like its exterior at all. D'Avin could see Johnny's eyes light up in wonder. Man, this must be like a geek fest for him right now.

Dutch too looked rather impressed. But she kept her expression neutral and gave them a reminder with a look in her eyes.

Moments after docking, a stocky boisterous man named Elros introduced himslef to be the supervisor of the facility. Dutch showed her warrant and explained what they required, and the man was more than happy to assist. In fact, he said that there were a lot of old communication devices, but they were in fact scattered across the station. He would, however, be happy to have them all transferred all to one cargo area. That way, they could simply find which ones they needed instead of doing so much ground work.

D'Avin liked the man immediately after that. The science station was quite large and he really didn't feel like running around like some mad space rat gathering old crap just to keep up appearances. Dutch thanked him and said that would be great if he could do that.

Elros, D'Avin found, was a chatty man. He gave them an overview of the facility, about the localized A.I., Aldross. Funded by a private investor, it was an experimental design of A.I., first of its kind that could rewrite itself as required. D'Avin didn't know too much about A.I. but he was pretty sure that Lucy could do stuff like that too. But he didn't say anything, though he did glance at Johnny to see his reaction. Yep, just as D'Avin expected, the kids eyes were keen and curious.

Elros continued to say that because of the experimental nature of the A.I. some interference with electronics not made with specific alloy could be affected. D'Avin appreciated the man's honesty, seeing that already the headset that they normally shared their visuals was having difficulty staying connected.

The openness in which Elros addressed them had put them at ease. He gave no signs of suspicious behaviour. Looking at Dutch, she too seemed to be put at ease by his charming nature. Alvis.. Well, he didn't trust anyone really. Not surprising considering he was on the most hunted list.

Alvis would have remained on board, but he wanted to be of help. Dutch had been unsure at first, since it was known that the scarbacks were being broadcasted as the reason for the bombing of Old Town. But since they were so on the fringe of the Quad, it should have been alright.

Alvis said he wanted to redeem himself a little bit - to find his path again. Right. D'Avin wasn't a big fan of monk pants for personal reasons and all, but yeah, the man also almost almost commit mass murder on Spring Hill with the poison cannister. Trusting the man... D'Avin didn't have too much of. But Dutch did. And that mattered to D'Avin. Work with the team. Repeat that mantra to thy self, thought D'Avin.

Elros listened for a communique for a moment on his comm and then he nodded to them, "They're ready." And motioned them to follow, saying that by the time they reached the cargo bay, most of the devices would have been transported there.

Wow, talk about efficient staff, thought D'Avin impressed.

They had began to move out, but was stopped by a voice. They turned to see a young woman, small in stature with dark rimmed glasses.

She asked if the engineer of the ship was present in the group. Johnny had nodded, indicating he was it. The woman, who introduced herself as Lorey Mason, Lead Science Officer, then explained that they had detected some unusual interference that was caused by their A.I that could adversely affect Lucy. It would be Johnny's best interest to come join her to check this out.

Johnny nodded and offered to go, his eyes lighting up at the idea of interacting with an advanced A.I. similar to Lucy. He looked to Dutch, however, making sure that was okay with her. This was a mission after all.

"Ok, go check it out. This shouldn't need you. And besides, I'm sure Lucy will appreciate your due diligence on making her more like my boss. Try not to forget we're on a warrant?" She looked at him knowingly.

Johnny grinned. "Will do."

"Geek," said D'Avin snidely with a smile on his face. It was times like this that D'Avin remembered how innocent his kid brother could be. He was always like this when he was young. Couldn't help but be drawn to all the techy stuff. It on the other hand, always made D'Avin's head spin.

Johnny left with Lorey; behind them, a tall pale looking security officer named Lyaff followed behind. D'Avin thought nothing of it, since it was normal to feel a little paranoid of outsiders arriving on their station that was situated this far out from civilization.

As for D'Avin and the others, they followed Elros as he led them to the cargo bay for their 'warrant'. They kept in contact with Johnny via com; though with each growing distance between them, it seemed that it grew more staticy, often leading to long intervals of silence inbetween replies.

D'Avin could however hear Johnny's awe with the A.I. mainframe. He commented on how advanced the A.I. was. Johnny dared to say it may have been smarter than Lucy. But not for long. D'Avin smiled at that. Of course, no one could beat out Johnny's best girl. Though.. Maybe Pawter might...

It was about 15 minutes enroute to the cargo bay, D'Avin started to feel uneasy. It was a strange sixth sense he was feeling. The hallways felt oddly familiar. A deep sense of deja vu came over him suddenly. Perhaps it was the paranoia leftover from both his abduction by Khlyen and the nano infested crazy man that one time last year, but D'Avin's senses were flagging red. He looked over at Dutch and Alvis, and they both nodded. They too felt something was off too, but they couldn't understand it either. There was no evidence of anything amiss. It was just a feeling, an instinct.

And one they should have followed, because just as they rounded a sharp corner in the corridor, D'Avin heard the distinct sound of a blaster being charged up.

And then all hell broke loose.

For the next 30 minutes, there was a fierce fire fight, screaming and for the most part, a lot of retreat on their end. They had no choice, outgunned as they were. They were being funnelled into a trap, the very same cargo bay that they had been leading them too. It wasn't really a cargo bay, it had no docks. It was like a storage area, exits for it were all locked up. They were sitting ducks.

The worse of the madness was they had no f*cking idea why they were being attacked. Did Khlyen find out they had come across this hidden item and wanted them dead? But why would he hurt Dutch?

At this point, however, D'Avin didn't care. He was angry. The two faced assh*le Elros, he just wanted to snap him in half.

"Johnny. Damnit, answer your com!"

There was absolute silence.

"Johnny!"

"Johnny?"

Finally what seemed like an eternity, a static reply came back, "D'Av?"

It sounded oddly weak, but D'Avin chalked it up to the poor signal of the com.

"Johnny! Get us out of here. The cargo bay, they've locked all the exits, Johnny! Do you copy?" There was static going in and out.

"Johnny!"

Suddenly Dutch let out a cry as she collapsed just behind the pillar of the cargo room.

"Dutch!" Alvis was by her side immediately, taking over with her blaster and all the same time, telling her to stay awake. "We need to get her back onboard Lucy, now."

D'Avin wasn't going to argue with that.

"Come on Johnny. Get us out of here. Work your magic!"

But the com was silent again.

Crap. Damn this. It seemed like forever when finally the com came back online. It was Lucy.

"The doors have been unlocked. You do not have much time, you need to get to the secondary corridor on the right wing B in 5 minutes."

So specific. But D'Avin didn't plan on sticking around for so long. Already Alvis had shouldered the severely injured Dutch and making a run in the direction Lucy had told them.

Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to have an extra team member.

"Got it. Thanks Lucy."

The escape wasn't going to be easy. Because Elros had planned out the ambush, there were Aldross people at almost every intersection of the corridors. Lucy could only navigate so much.

"Damn this. Johnny. We need some sort of distraction. We can't get through this corridor. There's too many of them."

Static. Damn it. The com was down again. Was Lucy also gone?

"Lucy?"

"Yes, D'Avin."

"What the hells is going on with the com?"

"The Aldross A.I. is being difficult. It works to interfere with our communication systems."

"Can you contact Johnny?"

"Yes. I am in connection with him through the Aldross com."

"Tell him we need a distraction. The corridors are riddled with Aldross men."

There was a long pause.

"The message has been delivered. He says to hold on tight to something.'"

Will do, thought D'Avin. He nodded to Alvis since he too could hear Lucy's instructions. One hand gripping on to Dutch tightly and the other to a rail on the station, D'Avin braced for whatever Johnny had planned.

And Johnny didn't disappoint. D'Avin felt the ship literally drop downwards and sideway shift. D'Avin could hear cries and alarms suddenly started sounding.

Good job Johnny! D'Avin silently cheered. Now on to business.

"Lucy?"

Static again.

Damn this. "Lucy. Come in."

The station suddenly did another hard orbital shift. D'Avin nearly lost his footing this time, but thankfully was able to steady both himself and Dutch.

Minutes passed and finally the ship's A.I. answered.

"Yes, D'Avin."

"Lucy, where's Johnny? Is he still in the control room? Navigate us there -"

"John Jacobis is no longer with us on board the Aldross station. Please proceed with my instructions D'Avin. John would expect you to get Dutch safely off this vessel since he cannot."

"So he's on board with you, Lucy? He's okay?"

"He says that you have get out 'asap' and to stop wasting time."

Good old Johnny, always putting the team first. If Johnny was onboard Lucy then that meant they could just leave, buying more time in helping Dutch. Looking at her wound, any amount of time bought could mean life or death for Dutch.

The endless winding of the corridors was a blur, but somehow they had managed to bypass most of the Aldross men from shooting them down. All thanks to Lucy's impeccable voice navigation over the com.


	3. Chapter 3

**On board Lucy**

 **D'Avin**

The moment they boarded, Lucy kicked into high gear to leave orbit of the station. D'Avin was impressed with Johnny's piloting skills. Though it wasn't a clean escape, the ship sustaining multiple damages - enough sparks to make D'Avin worried - at least they were out of there. His kid brother had skills he wasn't even aware of.

"Hey Johnny, good stuff!" he said over the com.

There wasn't, however, a response. Only static returned. D'Avin didn't take it to heart since it could have been all that crazy interference from the station that could have broken the tech. Besides, Johnny was probably busy pissed at Lucy getting damaged was fixing the ship like a mad little monkey. D'Avin would have to head to bridge afterwards, right after making sure Dutch was taken care of.

While the wound hadn't looked so bad earlier, it was in fact much worse than either of them had thought it was. The scarback though seemed to know what he was doing, already having pulled out a number of tools needed for sulturing.

They spent for the next long while trying to stablize Dutch, helping was Lucy's reports on her vitals.

All the while they were patching Dutch up, however, D'Avin noticed how pale Alvis was. The side wound he had was looking pretty bad, having bled through the makeshift bandage he had wrapped around it.

Lucy indicated that Alvis should take care of it. He merely nodded.

D'Avin stared at the injured and unconsious sleeping form of Dutch and felt the anger rise in him.

What the hells was wrong with those people? Why did they attack us?

But the worse of it was they had gone through all that craziness for nothing.

"Nothing.." muttered D'Avin aloud.

"Not for nothing," said Alvis, his voice sounding scratchy. He pulled out from his side bag a cube like object. "Picked this up while we were trapped in that cargo bay. Used a scanner from a dead guy to get it. We went through hell to get this thing. Damned well make sure we get something in return. Better be worth it."

D'Avin agreed. It had better be worth it.

"How are you holding up?" he asked, looking at the scarback.

Alvis paused for a moment. "As good as it gets."

D'Avin accepted that. Wasn't much he could add. "Good. I'm going to check on Johnny, see if he can boost Lucy's speed. Maybe get some insight on what the hells we stepped into on there. See if he managed to download some logs for us."

Alvis nodded and D'Avin made his way to the bridge of the ship.

"Johnny. What the hells happened down there?" he called out as he entered.

There was no response, only the low hum of Lucy's systems in the background.

"Johnny?"

D'Avin looked around the bridge. There was no sign of his younger brother.

"Shit Johnny, stop tinkering with Lucy for a minute, you can fix her later after you check Dutch. She's been seriously injured..." Still silence.

Looking around at the empty bridge, D'Avin suddenly felt a strange cold fear grip him.

Johnny wasn't on board.

Lucy lied to them. She had been compromised on Aldross.

"Lucy. Where is Johnny?"

"John Jacobis is not onboard."

D'Avin's heart stopped.

"Lucy. You said he wasn't on the space station. So he must have been onboard here." The ship's A.I. didn't answer.

"Where the hell is my brother?!" He didn't even realize it, but his voice had risen decibels.

"We left him behind? On the station, is that you're telling me?"

Silence.

"Lucy! Answer me!"

"I did not lie. I said John Jacobis is no longer with us on board the Aldross station."

No. He did not want to hear this. But he had to ask it. He had to.

"What the hell Lucy. Where is he?"

In response, Lucy initiated a feed on the main screen for what seemed to show the control centre of the Aldross science station. What D'Avin saw chilled him to the bone.

 **1 hour ago - Aldross Science Station**

 **\- Control Room -**

 **Johnny Jacobis**

Johnny stood inside the control room, that Lorey and Lyaff led him to; sheer awe was on his face. He couldn't stop himself from feeling his inner geekiness scream out.

The facility was top notch, the computing power on the computers would make tech lovers drool like a fool. This was the Utopia of tech world. State of the art A.I., latest gadgets and VR equipment from the quad. It was a dream place to be. Maybe the next time he took time off, he'd come visit this place instead.

Johnny worked on the control console to check on the wave signals that the scientist Lorey's was telling him about. She was right, there was something off about it. And while fixing it, Johnny was finding himself impressed with the Aldross's mainframe system. There were subroutines that were so advanced that just seeing them was a sight to behold. Johnny had to make a note of them, make sure that he could use them for Lucy. It'll be like brainfood for her. He wasn't sure, though, how much Dutch would love him after he implemented it, but Lucy would be pleased with the upgrade. He'd hear it later from Dutch, Johnny was sure of it.

Fifteen minutes in, Johnny started to feel something was off. Something in his gut screamed danger. He looked up several times at the petite scientist who seemed focus in her work and then to Lyaff who seemed to be bored standing to one side. Nothing was out of the ordinary. Everyone was acting normal, nice and calm.

The com signal was on and off, that was the only thing that bothered Johnny. But Elros had explained it had to do with the waves that the Aldross gave off. Yet it wasn't that which bothered Johnny, but it was just the interval of the snippet of conversations that the team or Lucy would respond to him. It seemed too fixed. There was a period of silence, and then something would come through the feed, though it seemed so perfectly spaced. Unnatural.

Because of that, Johnny couldn't help but run a sub diagnostic within their Aldross system. Johnny hoped that the scientist didn't take offense to Johnny's paranoia if they ever found out. It would most certainly show on their station's logs.

Not expecting anything from the diagnostic, Johnny was surprised when something did return; and it was alarming. There was a deliberate blocking signal being used. Subroutines that were used to give a mirage of base interference waves.

These people were not friendlies. His team was in danger. Johnny reacted quickly, adding in some backdoor code and attempted to connect Lucy to the Adross mainframe.

Johnny managed to get a few commands in before the petite woman scientist Lorey realized it. Instantly, she called out to Lyaff and the tall man sprang into action.

There was purpose in his eyes as he drew out from his boot to what looked like a very long dagger.

Johnny wasn't going to go down without a fight either, he went immediately for his gun on his holster, and fired it, not a killshot, but it would incapacitate him at least until Johnny could figure out what was going on.

To his surprise, no shot fired from his blaster. His gun simply let out loud whine with no discharge. Shit, was the first thought that came from Johnny's mind. What had happened?

"All charged weapons are inoperable in this control room." said Lyaff, smirking as he swiped his dagger at Johnny. Johnny made a dodge from Lyaff's attack, barely able to as the blade grazed his front, cutting a line straight through.

That dagger was well maintained, thought Johnny.

Lyaff was taking his time with him, Johnny could see that. The man knew that Johnny wasn't a strong fighter, maybe great with aiming his blaster, but not bloody hand-to-hand combat.

In the dance with Lyaff, however, Johnny managed to finally unblock the com link to his team. Lucy's was still on a feedback loop. Which meant whatever Johnny told it, it may still be in queue or simply not even sent at all. Maybe the whole time, it was the A.I. responding to Johnny and not Lucy. Lucy would be mad if it found out Johnny took another A.I. for her. She'd be so pissed.

What a time to be worried about an A.I. being mad at you, thought Johnny as he wiped cold sweat from his forehead.

Static broke through the com and finally, Johnny could hear words, words of extreme urgency come through.

"Johnny?! Johnny, do you copy? We need help. Please, Johnny, do you copy?" The pleading voice of Dutch. Desperation laced in her voice. Shots were fired. There was shouting, someone was down.

"Johnny!"

"Johnny?"

"Watch out!" Alvis.

"Back here!" D'Avin.

There was static again.

Fear gripped Johnny. How long had they been calling him? How had he not known? Because he was so preoccupied with his gadgets. He should have been paying attention. He failed in watching his team's back.

Johnny couldn't activate the com again. He had to move to the farside of the control room, to the side where only the lower level operations were operated. Lyaff wasn't just a man of brawn. He was smart. He had been maneuvering it so that Johnny would be trapped there, with no access to do anything.

Lorey, the petite scientist stood at the side, expressionless.

Johnny had a small hope that maybe she could do something. Perhaps change her mind and get Lyaff to stop trying to kill him and save the rest of his team.

"Lorey. Please. I don't know why you guys are doing this, but we're not here to steal anything from this station, if that's what you guys think we are. We're killjoys, were here for a warrant. We have shown this to Elros. Please. We don't have any quarrel with you."

Lorey looked at Johnny, and shook her head slowly. "You may have no quarrel with us, but we do with you. You are a company of killers. Murderers. The scarback that caused the death of thousands on Old Town, destroying the hopes of millions of people who worked 7 generations on the God forsaken moon so that they could have hope. Hope on Leith for their children. Your scarback, he was the cause of the destruction of Old Town. And you support him, you aid him in his destruction."

"My family were in that Town when it was bombed. My husband and my children. They are dead because of the lot of you," she finished.

"No, no, you have it all wrong." Johnny knew it. While not all of Old Town reacted the same way, there were families that grieved. Those that went to Royale were those that of a different mindset, they couldn't care less, so long as they had food and booze. There were, however, the other side, those who had hopes, had families. They were affected. And the propaganda that the Company spread out to shift the blame onto the scarbacks, some believed in it, while others called out on its bullsh*t. Clearly these people on this science station believed in the former.

"I'm sorry about your family, I really am," started Johnny, his hands held up in a defensive position as he looked pleadingly at her," but you have to know, the scarbacks, they had nothing to do with the bombing of Old Town. It was a plan that was made by the Nine and the Company. They wanted to break the 7 generation agreement, Lorey. Please, you have to listen to me."

As Johnny tried to convince Lorey of their innocence with what happened with the bombing of Old Town, he was aware of the dangerous space that was closing between him and the security guard Lyaff.

The tall pale man was far too close for comfort, but there was really nowhere Johnny could go, especially if he was trying to avoid the pointed tip of the man's dagger.

The woman looked at Johnny, her eyes firey. His words weren't reaching her at all, he realized.

"I would say that I am sorry that you have to die, but I am not." She stated frankly. "So many lives have been lost because of the scarback. By harbouring him, you are no different than the murderer; sheltering him from his crimes."

"You protect the man who destroyed generations of hard work," said Lorey, her face now twisting into one that was filled with both grief and bitterness. There were unshed tears that burned in her eyes as she spoke. "You live and breath while loved ones are lost, buried and forgotten."

Johnny really didn't want to die, especially for something they had been framed for.

"Like I said, I am very sorry for your loss. But are you sure they are gone? Maybe they survived? Communication into Old Town is difficult, they could still be alive, maybe -"

"I am an engineer," she snapped at Johnny. "I have my ways to log into their systems. THEY ARE GONE."

At the end of her statement was when Lyaff decided to make his move.

Lyaff lunged at him. Johnny dodged. But he didn't have much room or space to maneuver. Nor anything to defend himself from the man.

Think like Dutch, thought Johnny. Gods. He wished he could. Lyaff swiped at him again, this time it met flesh. Johnny could feel a burning on his side. Lyaff didn't stop there. He slammed his fist into the same injured side and Johnny went down to the ground.

Blinking the stars from his eyes for a moment, Johnny did all that he could to block what Lyaff intended, but he stood no chance.

Lyaff closed in and Johnny felt the bite of the cold blade. The man buried the dagger to the hilt into Johnny's abdomen.

God. It hurt. It hurt so much. In the back of Johnny's head, he couldn't help but have the complaint pop up in his head, Really? Knife through the abdomen, again?

Lyaff twisted the long blade once before yanking it out cruelly.

"Lyaff, just finish him off," said Lorey, turning her back, ready to leave the control room.

"No. He doesn't get to die so easily. People of Old town didn't all die from bombing. There are those who starved to death. Bled to death under rubble of fallen stones from buildings. He's getting a taste of what they felt."

"Fine. Let's go to the bridge's control room. I want to see if I can download the databanks from their ship's A.I. before we destroy it."

Lyaff nodded. And gave Johnny a good hard kick on the side for good measure.

"Sir, it has been done. Heading out," said Lyaff over on his com.

Johnny, in the meantime, gripped with all his might to consciousness. Lucy. Damn it to hell if they dared to lay a hand on her! And his team. Gods. Dutch. D'Avin. Alvis. They needed him.

He lay there unmoving for what seemed like hours, but only minutes had passed.

His team needed him. Dutch. D'Avin. Alvis. Lucy. They needed him. With strength he didn't know he had, he began to crawl towards to higher operative section of the console, all the way on the other side of the room. Damn it. No luck at all. As Johnny crawled his way to the console, he left behind a trail of blood.

Finally, he reached it. With all the reserved energy he had in him, he pulled himself upright, leaning heavily against the console. Blood stained against the hard surface of the controls, but Johnny didn't pay heed to it.

He had to re-establish the com signal.

Tapping on multiple keys like a mad man with ideas he didn't even know he had, he was able to break through Aldross's lock code and reactivate the com signal again with his team.

"Johnny?"

"Johnny!"

"D'Av?" he said weakly.

"Johnny! Get us out of here. The cargo bay, they've locked all the exits, Johnny! Do you copy?" Sounds of shots fired cracked through the com link. "Johnny!" It was D'Avin. There was a cry in the background, "Dutch!" Alvis's voice was worried. "Dutch, stay awake."

Onboard Lucy

D'Avin

D'Avin wanted to look away. He felt deep well of anxiety as he watched on the viewscreen his little brother while bleeding out, work on getting the doors open for them. D'Avin had felt a temporary relief when Johnny managed it, and had asked Lucy for an escape route, but then that was taken away when an blaring alarm suddenly went off.

The Aldross had discovered the breach, and had sent out an alert signal for the crew of Aldross.

Lyaff and the science officer, Lorey's face suddenly appeared on the outside of the control centre's doors.

There was a long moment of struggle for the bastard's in getting the doors open, but they managed it. D'Avin watched in horror as Lyaff, the f*cking bastard, re-enter the control room and stab his brother. Johnny had struggled at first, but the man was relentless. He repeatedly stabbed him until the life left his brother's eyes.

The man took pleasure in the murder. Calling it justice. For each stab, he named those of his loved ones that had died on the Old Town bombing. When he was done, Johnny's body was still, around him was a pool of blood.

Lyaff, in fact would have kept stabbing, had not the petite scientist told him to stop. In a nonchalant tone, she said that the blood would stain the floors if they didn't clean it up now. She ordered Lyaff to get a disposal crew to do the removal.

Lyaff stepped back and wiped his bloodstained hands on his uniform. Lorey had looked at him then, making a face, but saying nothing. She returned to madly tapping on keys on the console, cursing Johnny every few minutes.

When there was rumble on the station, she slammed her fists angrily on the console. "Bastard!" And she went over and kicked at Johnny's still body. Lyaff stopped her after her fourth or fifth kick, saying that she was staining her officer shoes.

D'Avin wanted to smile in victory that Johnny had pissed off that b*tch, but he couldn't. Not seeing his lifeless body lying prone there, on the cold floor of the Aldross control room. In fact, D'Avin had to control himself not to leap into the viewscreen and punch the woman's face in.

But already the feed was going staticy and then it eventually blinked out. Lucy must have left orbit, cutting off the rest of the feed.

D'Avin stared at the blank screen, which now had listed a playlist of other logs. D'Avin didn't need to see himself running through the corridors, cursing at Johnny to hurry and get them off the station. All the while he had been doing that, Johnny had been dying.

The lasting image was Lyaff's face as he took pleasure killing his brother.

He'd been a soldier. He'd seen horrible things. But this. This was cold hearted bloody brutality. Soldier to soldier, it was expected. But this was something else. This was a soldier killing a civilian with enjoyment. D'Avin wanted to kill Lyaff. Rip him to pieces. Put as many stab wounds as he put in his baby brother. Johnny. God. Johnny. He died alone on the space station. In the hands of a monster. Those f*ckers.

D'Avin drew his hands into fists.

"Lucy. Why. Why did you lie to us?" He cried out in anguish at the ship's A.I.

"It was John's last wish. Protocol Jacobis 2 7 R. Johnny installed the subroutine for me in case of emergency."

"We could have saved him. We could have.. We could have done something."

Lucy didn't reply, leaving only the low hum of the ship as his answer.

Tears blurred D'Avin's vision.

The feed on the view screen seemed to be looping again. D'Avin didn't have the energy to turn it off. Instead, he left the bridge and headed towards the sickbay where he had left the critically wounded Dutch.

When D'Avin reached the sickbay, he hadn't been expecting to see what he did.

Alvis was on the ground, still.

Shit. D'Avin ran to his side and checked for the man's pulse.

He was gone. How? How had that happened?

Dutch. D'Avin went to check on her immediately.

Her pulse was weak. Barely there. This was a f*cking nightmare.

"Damnit!" He swore aloud.

"Lucy. Lucy we need to hurry to get to a medical facility. Now!"

"The nearest facility is 3 hours away."

"Dutch is hurt, she's dying. Alvis is dead." Johnny's dead too. But he couldn't bring himself to say it aloud. "Boost your speed now, Lucy. Do whatever you can to get us closer to something that will help Dutch.

"Acknowledged D'Avin. However, within the time frame, I cannot reach a proper facility that will be able to treat Dutch's wound."

"Damn it, Lucy. Damn it!" D'Avin was breaking down. This was not happening.

"Lucy. Please. Tell me something that will help. Help me get my team back. Johnny. Dutch. Alvis."

There was a pause.

"I will attempt to help, D'Avin." she said, "I will however need your assistance."

Suddenly, the cube that Alvis had picked up from the space station started both glow and levitate.

What the hell? Thought D'Avin as he got up from Dutch's side and moved closer to the levitating cube.

And then it shot out a beam of blue light onto D'Avin, so quickly, he couldn't even get it out of the way.

D'Avin suddenly felt like he was floating. It felt like he was somewhere else. The light around him was so bright, it burned his eyes. His head spun. He could hear sounds, however. Dutch. Alvis. Johnny. Gods. Johnny. An image of his body, bloody and still on the control room floor. His baby brother. Murdered. The light around him continued to be magnified.

Suddenly the light faded and then blinked away. He felt light headed. What. Where...

"My name is Elros, welcome to Aldross Lab," said a stocky man with a big grin on his face.

 _What the hells was going on? Thought D'Avin as he stared at the man._


	4. Chapter 4

"This is such a pleasure to be meeting someone outside from this station. It's such a remote location, almost no one ever comes to visit. Well, maybe just the cargo suppliers," continued Elros, laughing loudly at his own not so amusing joke.

D'Avin felt a wave of confusion. There was a moment of absolute clarity - D'Avin knew the man. He knew him. And then the thread was gone, and he was left with just unease and a terrible feeling of deja vu. He tried to catch Dutch's eye, wondering if she was feeling the same thing.

She must not have because she didn't sense his seeking gaze. Instead she greeted Elros with open respect, "Well, the pleasure is ours. Tell me, Elros, why is this place located so far at the fringe of the quad?"

D'Avin didn't hear Elros's answer, instead, he felt a sharp pain in his head.

Alvis gave a curious glance at him, while Johnny looked at him in concern, "D'Av? You alright?"

D'Avin blinked. Johnny. He just had a horrible imagery of him lying still in a white room. The image had disappeared as quickly as it had come though, leaving D'Avin very disturbed. _Shit_. All this Dr. Yaeger mind f*ck had messed him up badly than he thought.

"This facility has been here for over 80 years. I bet you couldn't believe it by just looking at it from the outside. If it hadn't been for private funders who had felt this place had potential as a research lab, it indeed would have been as old as it looks externally. Hence all this fancy equipment," he opened his arms showing off the clean well lit hall ways with technology that belonged to probably one that could be situated on Leith.

The man was damned proud of this place thought D'Avin. _Am I being paranoid?_ Thought D'Avin to himself. The guy seemed friendly enough. Chatty, but normal. But something about him was off. And D'Avin couldn't help thinking that he had forgotten something very important.

Nevertheless, D'Avin kept watch on him. Something was also off with his headset, the visual was staticy. D'Avin had been a soldier for years. He had to trust his instincts. Something _wasn't_ right. Now he just had to figure out exactly what it was. To do this, D'Avin to really hone in on the man's explanation about the technology on the station, something he didn't often do.

The station, apparently, had an experimental A.I. that had been in the works for the past few years. Aldross was its name. It was extremely advanced and installed on an alloy that was unique to the entire Quad, perhaps even this part of the J in general. The alloy was delivered by a private supplier, though it had been quite sometime since the last shipment, so they had to make do with what they had. They used most of it to build Aldross, while leaving some bits of it for other technology on the station. There was a reason for this, said Elros, and it was because when Aldross was active, it emitted strong waves that interfered with most technology. Only machines or electronics coated with the unique alloy worked normally.

Well. That explained the issue with the headset. Damn it. The guy was pretty forthcoming. Was he being paranoid? D'Avin was beginning to doubt himself suddenly.

"So you guys are here to pick up some old devices as your warrant? I don't know too much about killjoys, but it's good you don't do the violent type of things for joys." asked Elros

While D'Avin had no comment on the violent stuff, it was Dutch who answered, "We're here today for the warrant only, so just devices."

The man smiled and nodded. "Ah, I see."

"Sir," entered a petite woman with a bob haircut, "your request to load the devices to the other cargo bay has been rendered."

"Ah, good. Thank you, Lorey."

Then he looked at the team, "my, pardon my manners. This is my lead science officer, Lorey Mason. She's the techiest of techs onboard this vessel."

D'Avin smiled. Johnny and her would get along, he thought. The two could talk all day about technology.

"Sir, I actually detected some unusual diagnostics from our mainframe, and it may have an effect on our visitor's vessel. If I may borrow the engineer of the ship to see if we can prevent a possible issue ahead of time?"

"I can go with you," offered Johnny, and looked at Dutch to confirm that he wasn't needed.

"Ok, go check it out the waves.. and the A.I. This shouldn't need you. And besides, I'm sure Lucy will appreciate your due diligence on keeping her in one piece. Try not to forget we're on a warrant?" She looked at him knowingly.

Johnny grinned. "Will do."

"Geek," said D'Avin snidely with a smile on his face. The feeling of deja vu hit him again.

Johnny's pale face flashed in D'Avin's vision.

The vision vanished again quickly.

In its place, instead, was Johnny's smirking face and an eye roll. Johnny offhandedly waved at them as he turned and followed the science officer.

"Lyaff, why don't you follow Lorey and see if she needs to any circuit changes to the mainframe?" called out Elros to a man who stood by the right console of the main bridge they were standing in.

The tall pale man nodded, "Yes Sir."

D'Avin would not have given a second glance normally, especially given that they were visitors on a space station and while they were on a warrant, the people on the station had no reason to trust them. Yet something about the man made him angry. An intense feeling of rage overcame him, and D'Avin had to hold himself back. This was crazy. He had just met the man.

Gods, D'Avin hoped he wasn't going crazy. Was it something that Khylen subjected him to on Arkyn that was doing this? The green goo finally took a toll?

Stop it, he told himself. This was getting ridiculous.

Shaking himself out of the paranoia, he followed behind Dutch and Alvis as Elros lead the way.

They had walked perhaps 10 minutes down the corridors, all the while Elros was chatting on endlessly. The man never seemed to stop talking. Normally such prattling would just be distracting, but for some reason, it wasn't like that for D'Avin this time. In fact, for every step that D'Avin took down the station's corridors, he felt a pull of urgency to stay in contact with Johnny. This was crazy of course. They'd been on many missions before, ones even more dangerous. This was nothing like that; it was a simple pickup that was on a research station for Gods stakes.

Yet when he checked in with Johnny, he did notice immediately that there was a lag in the response. It could have been the interference that Elros was talking about. But ... there was something wierd. It was ... so fixed.

Dutch and Alvis weren't on edge yet. But they had noticed how he was checking with Johnny a lot. And that set them to be concerned. Was D'Avin sensing something that they didn't?

D'Avin gave them the signal with his eyes. Damnit. He was going to follow his gut feeling.

"Look, Elros, seems like we forgot something we needed on our ship -"

The reaction was instantaneous. The guise fell from the stocky man's face and he was ready to call out in his com, but D'Avin's instinct as a soldier for years came out and he unholstered his weapon and in a swift move forward, covered the man man's mouth. In a firm neck deadlock grip, he ripped the man's com device from his ear and stripped him of his weapons.

"I'm going to let you go now, if you try anything, I'll put a blast through you." said D'Avin coldly. The man nodded and D'Avin released his grip and pointed his blaster at his face.

"We're going to leave now, but first you're going to lead us to where Johnny is. His com is responding way too slow. I don't know what is going on here, but clearly you are up to something. We're here, as we stated, for a warrant."

"A warrant?" The man repeated as he laughed coldly. "Of course. A warrant, all the while you harbour a murderer in your midsts," nodding towards Alvis. "It's his and his kind that has caused seven generations of hardwork all go to shit. My family in Old Town are dead because of you. Never would I have thought I'd have had the chance to avenge them, and then the lot of you walk right through our front doors asking about a warrant."

"It was the Company's work that did it," snapped Dutch. "That's got nothing to do with us. It was a plan made by the Company and the Nine, they used the scarbacks, they used Alvis as their scapegoat."

The man snorted. "You can lie all that you want. But the company was what helped our family. They promised us they would be taken good care of if we worked here in this outpost. It was a sacrifice I was willing to make. Knowing that they would live well. But they're dead now. Dead. This was for nothing." There was a bleep from the com that was on the ground. "Sir, it has been done. Heading out."

Elros smirked. "It's too late for your engineer. And for you."

There was rage in Dutch's eyes as she lunged at him, holding him in a choke hold against the wall. "You know nothing of what the Company has done - you believe blindly in them, and you don't even realize they've been using you all along. You had better hope be lying about Johnny. If there's a hair harmed on his head, I will tear you apart myself."

She threw the man unceremoniously to the ground and she picked up the dagger, one of the weapons that D'Avin had removed from Elros' earlier.

She froze for a moment and stared at it; as did D'Avin. Alvis, however, kept his eyes locked on Elros, his blaster locked on him.

"I don't know what lies the Company has spread about the scarbacks, but we are innocent of the charges," said Alvis, though the man said nothing and simply glared at him.

"This.. this looks familiar." Dutch said softly as she examined the dagger. Suddenly her hand went subconsciously to her abdomen, as if to feel for something. An injury? There was an injury here.

"Deja vu?" Asked D'Avin.

"Yes, very" she agreed. "No time to waste, let's get to Johnny now and get off this bloody station."

"Johnny?" Said Dutch urgently into the com link.

"Johnny, answer me."

"Lucy?"

Only static met her words.

"You," she pointed at the stocky man,  
will us to him now. If you try anything, I will make sure you regret it," threatened Dutch.

The man said nothing.

Dutch was angry, and while D'Avin had seen her kick people's asses for less, this was like rage unbottled.

"Do not take my words lightly, Elros," she said. Her voice was low and there was a menace in it D'Avin had never heard before. Was this the side of Dutch that she hid from everyone else? Alvis did not seem surprised, in fact, he had the same look.

Johnny had that effect on people. He drew the protectiveness out from everyone. For D'Avin, it was simply that no one laid a hand on his kid brother. No one.

"I will make you regret you ever crossed me. You think losing your family is hard? You touch _my_ family, and I will make your life a living hell."

The man went silent, though there was a flicker of fear on his face at her words.

As for D'Avin, he was worried that Dutch was going to gut him there and then. They still needed the man to get to Johnny.

"Take us to John _now._ "

Beads of sweat formed on the man's forehead. He nodded slowly and led the way.

Their pace was back to the bridge of the station was brisk, and with no hitches. But it was Alvis who suddenly stopped in mid-stride in the corridor. His eyes were dark as he glared at Elros. "You are messing with us. Take us to Johnny!"

The man paused for a moment and then he gave a crooked smile. "No."

The man had a death wish. He didn't fear death, he had resigned to it.

Dutch didn't even blink an eye before she buried the the man's own dagger into his left arm. The man stared at the blade in shock.

"No?" repeated Dutch.

The man was speechless. Or perhaps it was from shock. It didn't seem to matter.

"Say something little man. The next one will be elsewhere. I will make sure you live to feel the pain. There's plenty I can do to you while you are functional. From here on, I will take off a finger for every corridor you mislead us to. Do you understand?" As to demonstrate, Dutch removed the man's index finger.

D'Avin stared at Dutch. She wasn't kidding.

The man howled in pain, staring at the missing finger and trying to staunch the bleeding wound.

"Yes. yes, yes. Please. Please, no more," begged Elros. This time, there was no faking the pain and fear on the man's face.

"Johnny," D'Avin tried again with the com. Still silence. Before there had been static and delayed messages, now there was just nothing.

"Johnny, come on. Answer me buddy."

Nothing.

Shit. Something must have happened to him. Something bad. And this bastard had something to do with it.

"Johnny!"

Come one... something.. Anything...

"Johnny!"

And then static.

"D'Av?" The voice sounded weak.

Yes! "Johnny, are you ok? Johnny, where are you? We're going to get you, and we're getting the hells out of here. Understand?"

Static cracked again.

"The doors? Did Lucy get them open?"

D'Avin's mind was whirling. What was Johnny talking about?

Dutch charged her blaster and pointed it at Elros. "Let's speed this up. Bring Johnny to the bridge of the station."

When they arrived there, they saw Johnny. His eyes were closed and he lay still against the side wall. There was blood on the ground where he was. Too much blood.

By the Gods.

"You assh*les!" He swore as he raced to Johnny's side. "Johnny. Johnny!"

Please be alive. Please.

D'Avin was so preoccupied that he didn't even realize that Alvis was beside him as well.

It was he that spoke. "D'Avin, he's got a pulse. It's weak and thready, but it's there. We need to get him back onboard Lucy now."

"Unblock Lucy. Or I swear I will cut this man, and this time it won't just be a finger," said Dutch. The blade bit into Elros's neck. A thin line of red had already started to show.

Lorey stared at Dutch, her face unwavering. But she finally relented and accessed the console beside her.

"Lucy?"

"Yes, Dutch."

"We need to leave this station. Are you functional? Have you sustained any damage?"

"There has been several attempts to hack my systems. However, they have been unsuccessful. John's new subroutines have helped ensure that."

"Good. John needs you right now Lucy. He's hurt. When we get onboard, we need to route to a station with an OR, understood?"

"Yes, Dutch." If it was possible, D'Avin could almost hear anger in Lucy's voice that someone had hurt Johnny. Damned artificial intelligence sometimes creeped him out.

Both D'Avin and Alvis carried the wounded and unconscious Johnny to the ship. They held Elros hostage until the very last moment when they boarded Lucy.

At the ramp just before closing Lucy, Dutch buried the dagger into the man's thigh. The fat man howled again in agony, but Dutch showed little mercy as she kicked him unceremoniously down the ramp. The fat man rolled down, and was eventually caught by Lyaff. D'Avin wanted to shoot his blaster at the man, but he knew they didn't have time. Johnny needed every second.

D'Avin and Alvis carried Johnny straight to the infirmary and did what they could to stabalize him, while Dutch went to navigate Lucy to get them out of there.

It was a bad wound, worse than what D'Avin had done to him under Dr. Jaegar's mind control.

"You can get through this Johnny. You can do this." Another flash of white.. A memory. Johnny in the control room. Multiple stab wounds. No. This wasn't it. That didn't happen. It didn't happen.

It took more than an hour to stablize Johnny. He had gone into cardiac arrest 3 times. He needed more aid that only a medical facility or a real doctor could give him. What D'Avin wouldn't do to have Pawter onboard right now.

He could see that was the same thought that crossed Dutch's and Alvis's minds as well. But they had to work with what they had.

Johnny was stable now, that was what was important. Now it was just the wait till they reached the proper facilities that could take of his little brother.

Johnny. They had almost lost him.

"Lucy, ETA on arrival to the nearest medical facility?"

"3 hours and 10 minutes."

"Good. Johnny needs to get there asap. Gun it if you can, Lucy."

"I will do that, D'Avin."

There was silence on the bridge for a moment and then Lucy said, "Thank you for saving him this time, D'Avin."

That jarring thanks surprised D'Avin.

 _This time_?

"What do you mean, Lucy?"

The A.I. did not respond, instead, a set of video feed logs displayed on the main view screen of the bridge.

Damn that looked familiar. Another feeling of deja vu overwhelmed D'Avin for a minute.

Lucy auto played the first of the video logs on the playlist.

When the video ended and went to dark, D'Avin felt sick to his stomach. And just when he thought it was over, the video replayed again. D'Avin was about to ask Lucy to stop when he realized there was something different. There was a variation. This was not the same video. These logs, while they all took place within the control room of the Aldross, different events played out in them. In every feed.

Suddenly it made sense to D'Avin. Why the sense of deja vu kept coming over him. It was because the events had happened already, over and over again. They had been looping the same day for nearly 20 times.

The first video feed, it showed them reaching Johnny in the contorl room, but it was too late.

Johnny was already gone. Stabbed multiple times by Lyaff. D'Avin watched himself cradle Johnny's still body, in tears. Meanwhile, Dutch and Alvis were desperate to contact Lucy, trying all that they could do to unblock the signal.

"Lucy!" Cried Dutch. "Help us get out here."

Static.

"Lucy. Come on." She pressed all the buttons on the console and then suddenly there was a clear voice that came over the com.

"Dutch?"

"Yes. Lucy. Can you get us out of here?"

"I will do what I can, Dutch. John. I cannot detect his lifesigns."

Dutch swallowed with difficulty. "They killed him, Lucy. We will have our go at them later. But we need to get out of here first."

Lucy went silent.

"Lucy? Come on damnit."

"Interfacing."

Something inside the scarback's side bag started to glow. Suddenly it, a cube,levitated into the air, surprising everyone, even those of the Aldross crew.

It seemed to scan them all and then suddenly the feed ended.

The next video feed started. Again, it was back at the beginning when Johnny first arrived at the control room. It had similarities, but there were differences. Each time, it seemed that Johnny was able to get closer to getting them out.

It was because of the residual memory. Johnny must have been able to retain more of it.

And each time, he had done the same thing; save the team and sacrifice himself in the process. Damn it Johnny, I always loved that you gave a sh*t about things, but this... D'Avin swallowed the lump in his throat.

"Lucy. Why, why didn't you tell us? You had all this information..why didn't you just tell us not to go down there?"

"The particon waves from the Aldross A.I. caused errors in my system. I am only able to access these memory banks once we have left a distance from the space station."

"Couldn't you have told us still? That we were in a loop?"

"I have just said, there were errors in my system. The Aldross affects my system each time the time interval initiated. In fact, before the time device was activated, my systems were being damaged by the Aldross. For each loop, John added new subroutines to protect my systems. It is why I am functional at all."

"I guess the only way for you to communicate what happened was through these logs you downloaded."

"That is correct, D'Avin."

"And the memory flashes, they were fragments of the other timeline?"

"The human mind is an anomaly."

"So is the cube some sort of time travelling machine?"

"Its origins are unknown. But diagnostics does show that it has the capability of temporal distortion."

"And that means?"

"It means yes. It is a time travelling machine."

"That makes no sense. How is it you have recordings of things that never happened?"

"D'Avin, it is not my video feed you are watching. It is ones recorded by the Aldross A.I."

Did A.I.'s come with a condescending tone? D'Avin wasn't sure, but he definitely heard it. He would have to ask Johnny.

"Recall the information Elros told you when you first went on board the space station," continued Lucy, "The Aldross is made of special alloy exhibiting waves that can interfere with most things not protected with a similar metal. Hence all instruments, such as scanners and headsets can become ineffective. The special alloy is also what shields the Aldross A.I. from being affected by the timestream and also keep records of what has been changed."

"Tell me Lucy, is this why Khlyen was there then? For that cube?"

It was Dutch that spoke. D'Avin hadn't even noticed her arrival or how long she had been standing on the bridge. Her cloths were unchanged and still stained red with Johnny's blood.

 **Dutch**

Lucy turned off the feed and switched to the regular view screen mode and displayed regular navigation view.

"It would appear so, Dutch." responded Lucy.

"He must have funded the lab privately so that he could experiment with time travel," said Dutch.

"Then why did he abandon it?" wondered D'Avin aloud.

It was Lucy that answered. "Khylen could not activate the device."

"Why?"

"It is unknown"

"But, you activated it, Lucy?"

"Affirmative, Dutch."

"How?"

"I... do not know Dutch. It was on instinct."

Dutch couldn't help but feel it was because Lucy felt the loss of Johnny. Could machines feel?

"Thank you Lucy," she said.

There was simply silence for a moment, no one spoke.

"Lucy," said Dutch.

"Yes, Dutch"

"Lock these video logs away; no access is to be given to Johnny." As much as Dutch wanted to delete the logs, there could be important clues in it in figuring out Khlyen's end game. "Also...remove Protocol Jacobis 2 7 R."

"Complying command, Dutch," answered Lucy.

D'Avin turned to look at Dutch. The question clear without being spoken; What was Protocol Jacobis 2 7 R?

"A memory," she said quietly in response. D'Avin didn't need anymore than that and simply nodded.

There was a shared silence again, between them as they stood there, staring into the view screen. What hells they had gotten out of at the Aldross station was only scratching the surface of Khlyen's plans. A machine that was able to travel back in time. Did Khlyen really abandon it because he couldn't use it, or was it because it was faulty, allowing only limited time travelling?

There were too many questions, not enough answers. Dutch made up her mind that she would return to Aldross one day soon and find out. And for those on board that station that had hurt Johnny, they should prepare for retribution. No one hurt her family and got away with it. No one.

 **End**


End file.
